I'll Always Follow you, My Stubborn Lover
by Yuna Yami Mouto
Summary: After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

 **A/N: HI! We meet once again, I would hope. I have decided to write another story, still TFA, but I am sorry that it is not the promised story of A Dog's Howl. The thing is, I started it long before this one but I still finished this story's first chapter long before I finished that gigantic oneshot. I still need some time for it, but I can assure you that A Dog's Howl will be finished before I upload a new chapter of this story.**

 **So, about this story. It's something I have been wondering about. Usually, its Optimus who stumbles upon a tribe of bigger, strange mechs, that are the Decepticons, and he becomes Megatron's, at first, slightly unwilling mate. And so I wondered what would happen if Megatron ended up in a tribe of Autobots? How would he cope? How would the others view him?**

 **These musings inspired me to write this story and I hope that you will like it. Please read and review!**

 **Warnings: cultural differences, size differences, misunderstandings, eventual love, cussing, mean Autobot tribe, sparkling abandonment…**

It was an ordinary day. Haden was shinning, the mechano animals had been making their usual noise outside his window, Strika was insisting on his attention when she was reading reports and Starscream was screaming at him because he would not pay attention on the seeker himself. Megatron often wondered if he had been crazy when he had agreed to eventually become mates with the annoying jet, but they needed the connection to Vos, so he had agreed to his sire's proposal that he one day bond with the back then Winglord and now Airlord of Vos.

Sure, he was definitely hot and stirred desire in most Decepticons, but Megatron was way past that. He wanted a partner that would understand him and take some of the burden that was ruling a city-state on a dying Cybertron at least partially off of his shoulder struts, but Starscream wasn't such a person. He was too selfish and Megatron knew that his supposed to be lover wanted his throne, so that was a big minus to the seeker as well.

Not that he could do anything about it now. The deal was made and short of him finding his destined sparkmate, he was stuck with the seeker.

It had been one of those days, when he had a bad helmache and his closest circle wasn't helping any. Lugnut, who had appointed himself as Megatron's protector, had been his usual loud self, not noticing how Megatron's left optic kept twitching any time he went into his tirades about his lord's greatness. Strika had been merciless in her demands that he read and deal with her reports. Cyclonus was still mourning and sulking about the recent death of Galvatron, Megatron's uncle of sorts, who the horned mech had insisted was supposed to kill Oil Slick, one of their chemists that especially got on his nerves. Starscream was whining about one thing or the other and demanding Megatron's attention like a spoiled brat or a demanding turbocat.

He had been missing his once closest confidant, Shockwave, even more these days and it had reached quite a high level that day, as usually the one-opticed mech would make everyone shut up.

Thankfully, he still had Soundwave, a sparkling he and Shockwave had brought up together as he had been found with both creators dead. The young mech was just as good at reading Megatron as Shockwave had been and he had threatened everyone out of the room, then suggested that Megatron go for a brief flight while they were leaving him alone.

It was supposed to be a fine day for flying, no strong winds and no sand storms in sight, yet this one had more than surprised him with its suddenness. It was not unusual for a sandstorm to come out of nowhere, but those were extremely rare. Then again, he had ventured quite a bit away from the city and as such he couldn't return to Kaon. He had tried landing and finding shelter, but the winds were too strong and kept pushing him upwards.

This was the first time Megatron felt fear and panic since he had been but a mere youngling. He tried everything in his power to keep his course, but before he knew it, he lost control completely and was at the mercy of the winds. He was thrown this way and that by the wind before he slammed into the ground and he lost his grip on reality.

Megatron woke up some time later to the burning light of Haden almost blinding him. He tried to squint his optics to lessen the light input but it wasn't much help. When he tried to move, he couldn't stop the cry of pain that escaped him. Everything hurt. His left servo was undoubtedly broken, his stabilizers were jammed and his thrusters were filled to the brim with rusted sand. His helm hurt and when he raised his good servo to rub the pain away, he felt a crack just over his right audio. The energon there was running down the side of his helm, making even more sand stick to him. Half of his torso was buried in sand and even his Fusion Cannon was malfunctioning. He tried to call for help but it yielded no results. It would seem his communications systems were as damaged as the rest of him was, if not more. The only good news was that his chronometer still worked, although he didn't know if it was as accurate as it used to be.

He knew that it was bad to stare up at the sky when Haden was shining this brightly but he didn't exactly have a choice. Besides, even if he did look down, he will be equally as blinded by the heated sand that surrounded him. Instead, Megatron made the decision to dim his optics almost all the way, reducing his visual feed quite a bit but at least it lessened his helmache that had gotten worse due to the strain his optics receptors had been under. He was even more vulnerable like this but it's not as if someone will just drop out of the sky randomly, just so they can kill him. (Then again, he had randomly just fallen out of the sky so he hoped he hadn't just jinxed himself.) With the new dimness, Megatron unfortunately finally realized just how tired he actually was. He tried to fight off recharge because there was no way he will let himself lose that one last line of defense while he was out here, all alone, who knows how far away from the first ally he has.

He slipped into sleep and woke up periodically a few times, always seeing only sand and the bright sky overhead. The scenery changed only slightly, the sand dunes a little bigger, Haden changing its position in the sky above him and more and more sand right in his face. His vents were slowly filling up with dust and he knew the he will die before anyone could possibly find him. He had ventured deep into the desert and even if he hadn't crashed due to a storm, it would have taken quite a bit of time to find him without comms or trackers, even if Soundwave had organized a search party as soon as Megatron stopped responding on his comms. As it was, it was going to be either from overheating or from infection, although he might just die from lack of energon with how he was still leaking. It had slowed down but his frame was struggling with repairs. There was simply not enough nanites for the job and the ones he had were too weak from lack of nutrients and energon. He slipped into recharge again, hoping that that will stall the inevitable by conserving energy.

The last time he woke up in the desert, near night time, the first thing Megatron registered was a blurry, colorful form not that far away. Before he could fully think about it, his systems sprung into action, battle protocols activating at the proximity of a possible threat to his vulnerable self. He even somehow managed to power up his Fusion Cannon and its whir filled up the desert air, heard even over the wind. But instead of backing off in the face of a threat of one of the most powerful weapons a mech is onlined with, the colorful mech just started coming towards him. Rather fast, too, Megatron thought before he blacked out. The strain from powering up the Fusion Cannon when both he and it were in such a sorry state was apparently too much on his straining systems as it were and he was out for a few breems.

When Megatron onlined his optics again, he only registered that the blurry shape was right in front of him and it was a mech. He was right above the bigger mech's body, smaller hands fluttering over his wounds and trying to stem the leaking, so achingly gentle that Megatron wondered if he was dreaming this or if it was a merciful reality in his last breaths. Then the mech moved closer to Megatron's face when he noticed his red optics were online and he was met with the most beautiful pair of royal blue optics Megatron had ever seen. The only pair of blue optics he had ever seen, but still, they were beautiful. He then heard a sound and he tried to focus his CPU enough to think up a source when he saw full, pale blue lips moving beneath the optics that had captivated him so. He suddenly got it that the other was talking to him and so he tried to concentrate in order to process what the other was saying. It took a while but then Megatron could hear him clearly, but the words he was saying made no sense. He focused a bit more, thinking that he must have hit his helm a lot worse than he had already feared, because that was the only explanation.

He reset his vocalizer a few times, trying to tell the mech to speak more clearly but his voice was too filled with static for even him to know what he had said, although it sounded vaguely like ''Hurt''. Yet it was enough for the other and the stream of strange words stopped and suddenly there was a servo near his neck, still so tender but now very much threatening, and the mech drew himself closer to the gray mech. Then one of the most soothing and sweetest voices reached Megatron's audios clearly, now familiar and understandable words registering as he said to him ''I know. I'm going to help you. You will not like this, but I will have to put you in stasis in order to take you back to a medic. I am sorry if this is invasive.'' and then he felt too small digits pressing on a specific wire before darkness overtook him and he fell into forced emergency repair stasis.

The next time Megatron woke up, it was not to the bright skies or buried in rusted sand. He was in a strange tent like thing, the ceiling a strange mesh he had never laid his optics on as it kept most of Haden's light out but still enough for the tent to be bright enough to walk around without difficulty or need for lanterns. He was lying on a semi-comfortable medical berth only barely fitting his frame and there was a sheet thrown over his abdomen and chest plates. The next thing he registered was that he was no longer hurting nearly as much as he had before. In fact, there was only a faint ghost of pain still present, meaning that a skillful medic had taken care of him. He still ran an internal scan of his frame and was relieved when he found that his circuits were fine now, although still healing and in great need of rest. He then looked around the tent, trying to determine if it had been Hook or Scalpel that had did the fine patch job. They were equally skilled so he can't say from the welds, which were still rather fresh all things considered. At least he hadn't been out too long. He spotted a tool he knew would forever be too small for Hook to use and decided that it must have been Scalpel then. It didn't matter, he was just thankful that they had found him before he had offlined and in such a disgraceful way, too. He wondered how they did it, though, and if what he had seen before falling into stasis had been a dream or something more. For some reason, that bothered him more than how long he had been asleep.

He was brought out of his musing when he heard the flap that acted as a door being moved and he was about to call out to his visitor and ask why they were still in the desert (neither of his medics would stand for living and working in a tent unless it was an emergency or absolutely necessary) when a mech, the mech from his dream, no less, came in!

Megatron felt his breath hitching and his spark skipping a few harmonics. He was breathtakingly gorgeous! There was no denying it and anyone who tried would either be lying or blind. He really was smaller than Megatron, maybe coming up to his chest at best, all glorious red, blue and creamy white-silver colors. His chest was red and it and his upper servos were covered in blue flames, a shade darker than the blue of his digit to elbow servos and his pedes from below the knee struts. He had black windshields over his spark chamber and his waist was just as black, while his hips and codpiece was as blue as his servos. He had yellow headlights on his shoulders and two yellow stripes on his helm, which was as blue as his servos and pedes as well. There were two yellow squares on the up-side of his hands and pedes, as well as a few yellow details on his codpiece. And he had audio finials, Primus help him! Those were so rare amongst his kind that any mech or femme who had them was infinitely more desirable. Megatron knew they were his only weakness, his kin if you will, and he wasn't ashamed at all. The mechling (it was becoming obvious when Megatron had noticed that he still had one more upgrade to go through by seeing that the transformation seams still looked mostly underused) had beautiful, endlessly long silvery thighs that Megatron was sure was a gift from Primus himself just to tempt his creations with them. He then saw those full, pale blue lips in an equally pale blue and pretty face, surrounded by silvery faceguards which almost blended in with the same colored neck cables. Those blue optics he remembered so intensely from his dream were now even more beautiful, since he could see them a lot more clearly.

The mechling smiled at him as he noticed that the gray mech was awake and observing him. In his hands, he had a cube of energon and a bowl with a clean rag in it. He walked over to Megatron's berth and pulled a chair so he was sitting next to him before holding out the cube for the bigger bot to take. ''Here, it's mid grade energon. I thought that you would like something stronger than medical grade you have been forced to take while you were recovering.''

Comforted by the familiar words of his language, as opposed to the unfamiliar anything and especially that strange language the other had used when he had found him in the desert, Megatron gratefully accepted the fuel and didn't even hesitate when chugging it down in a single gulp. It was not the same mid grade he was used to, not nearly as rich as the one he would get back home, but it was clear that his savior is a grounder and not even a military one so he can accept whatever he could offer. It would be rude to do otherwise, especially since the other had basically saved his life. His host only smiled and Megatron swore it was as beautiful as a supernova.

After he finished his fuel, the mechling took his cube away and instead wet the rag and started cleaning away the unneeded metal left over from the welding. Megatron observed him for a moment before starting with the questions.

''Who are you? Where am I? How long was I out? How do you speak my language when we are not even of the same frame? From what city-state are you?''

The other chuckled at his rapid fire questioning but never took his optics away from his task, the touch just as tender as it had first been when he had found him. ''Well, first off, that's a lot of questions.'' Megatron threw him an unimpressed look which the other returned equally, much to the bigger mech's surprise. Larger and older mecha than this one mechling had covered under his intense red-optic gaze, yet this young bot wasn't intimidated.

''Second, my name is Optimus. When I found you in the desert, you were pretty close to out tribe's camp so I took it upon myself to drag you back. Meaning, you are in a medical tent that belongs to out best medic, Ratchet, the Chief Doctor of the Autobot tribe. You were in stasis for three days and than slept another two. meaning you were out for five days due to your various injuries. And you are not the first big mech we have come across. The last one decided to stay with us and he thought me while I was teaching him our language and culture and tradition. And this is not a city-state. This is a... a,'' The mechling, Optimus, frowned as he thought about what word in Megatron's language would fit best while the bigger mech watched him, noticing how cute he looked when he was thinking hard about something and he instantly wanted to slap himself for even thinking about him that way! ''A village, I guess would be best to compare it with.'' Megatron nodded as he observed Optimus while the younger bot moved down to his legs, having cleaned off his torso. The welds had settled just fine, his body not rejecting them at all, be it that they are foreign or that they might have viruses on them.

"We call it New Iacon, although it looks nothing like the actual city of Iacon. Even its ruins look magnificent, while this place ... Well, you'll see as soon as Ratchet clears you."

Megatron smiled wryly. "I've never been to Iacon, so I wouldn't know." Optimus smiled back before returning to the task at hand, optics focused in fascination to the thrusters in Megatron's pedes.

''So, can you fly then?'' The question took Megatron by surprise as he had been almost lulled by Optimus's soothing voice as he explained where and how Megatron was. He looked suspiciously at the mechling, not understanding where this was coming from.

"What?"

"Can you fly?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I once saw a flying mech while my mentor and I have been traveling. No one in the tribe believes me, but then again, they like being wrapped up in their cocoon of ignorance. They don't even believe that we saw Iacon!" If the situation was any different, Megatron would have laughed at the pout that formed on his companion's faceplates right now, but it wasn't a different situation so he repressed the urge.

"Wait, you've actually been to Iacon?! How? That place has been one of the first destroyed in the last war, millions of stellar cycles ago!"

Optimus shrugged. "It is. Destroyed, I mean. All ruins and rubble, I'm afraid, although you can still see the traces of its past beauty and culture. And you're avoiding the question. Stop doing that."

The larger bot just gave him this look before he shook his head and decided to answer. It's not as if that knowledge would mean anything other than the mechling now having personal truth that he was right. "Yes, I can fly. Although, given my state after my fall and the inexperience your medic has in regards to flightframe anthropology, I am not quite certain when I'll be able to fly again."

Optimus grinned at him, making Megatron wonder if he was usually this happy or if it was just with him. He rather liked that idea, although it was a sad one he wouldn't upon anyone. "Don't worry. Ratchet's a great medic so I have no doubts that you will be soaring through the skies in no time. Although I wouldn't recommend leaving the berth without his say. He can be quite ... intimidating when he goes into full medic/doctor mode."

And as if summoned, a red and white mech with a blue face walked in, his expression set in a grumpy scowl. It disappeared when his optics, as blue as Optimus's, settled on the mechling, who had finished his self appointed task and was now casually talking with their patient. He smiled at Optimus and the red and blue mech returned it before the medic, Ratchet as Optimus called him, started asking questions while locking optics with Megatron. The youngest mech in the room immediately started translating the questions to the gray, red and black mech before giving Ratchet his answers whether anything was hurting or more numb than was normal for such a situation, how the welds felt and held or if he needed special fuel requirements. Megatron was rather impressed by the ease with which Optimus translated long and complex sentences, almost talking in time with either of them, only a few beats behind so that he can hear what they were saying. Ratchet nodded after everything was said before waving at them with some final words and walking out.

Optimus turned his full attention back on Megatron as he informed him of the old medic's last instruction. "He says you should be fine with walking by tonight but that you should take it slow. He also suggested that I transfer my linguistic program to you, since my processor is already fully used to both languages and he though it would be better that you got it from me than the other warframe I mentioned earlier." Megatron looked at him wearily and the red and blue bot quickly ducked his helm, apparently embarrassed. "I mean, only if you want. I promise it will only be the linguistic registration program. I won't prod."

"Relax." He told the mechling with a sigh, even though he was enjoying this a bit more than he should. It was actually quite refreshing, this genuine shyness that did not exist among his people. "And yes, I would appreciate the removal of the language barrier. It's inconvenient, especially if I am to leave this tent." And as a further prompt, Megatron opened one of his medical ports on his undamaged arm and presented it to Optimus. That was all that the younger bot needed and he opened his own medical port and retrieved a cable from a nearby table, one that the gray mech recognized as one often used for such procedures. The mechling swiftly arranged the cable before the transfer began and the world blacked out around them. They were aware of nothing else but each other for a few kliks before the connection broke as soon as the download was complete. Megatron was still a little overwhelmed by the amount of information that he had glimpsed the other to possess as well as the feeling of a whole new dictionary now being crammed into his CPU. Optimus was recovering a lot faster, the bastard.

"Okay, you should wait for it to settle for a few minutes before using it as it might cause some overheating in wires and-"

"Talk to me in your own language, damn it." He snapped, not liking how he was treated as a fragile sparkling.

Optimus huffed. "Fine then. Let it be as you say. Just don't complain to me when Ratchet is after your stupid aft for overdoing it while you're still recovering!"

Megatron grinned as he understood every word. "Ha! I understood everything you just said!" It was a little wobbly at the beginning but the last word was sure. It would seem that the program integrated just fine. Optimus grinned at his sparkling-like reaction, once again making Megatron wonder if he was this happy all the time or not. He seemed to be enjoying the easy conversation between them like a mech starved of contact and connection. He seemed ... lonely.

"Okay, you win!" The mechling said with a chuckle. "However, that does not mean you don't have to take it easy. As I have already mentioned, Ratchet can be quite scary when he's mad. Well, mader than usual."

As if on queue, the peaceful atmosphere that had been surrounding them shattered when they heard three different arguing voices just outside the flap doors. They exchanged a look as they recognized the fury in the medic's voice, but then Optimus stiffened when an arrogant, obnoxious voice snapped back foolishly at Ratchet while Megatron's curiosity was peaked by the third voice, which seemed awfully familiar. He did notice how the red and blue bot beside him was suddenly very stiff, but before he could question him why, the argument outside reached its peak, drawing both of their attention to the flap doors as the words were exchanged.

"I am the medic here! I know what is best for my patients, you obnoxious little son of a slagging glitch, and right now he needs rest and relaxation! Well AWAY from fraggers like you!"

A snort and the sneer on the speaker's face could practically be heard in his voice. "I don't care about your slagging patient. Optimus is in there and I am here to get him out."

"Too bad! He is the only one that poor mech knows right now and I ain't letting you in if it's the last thing I do!"

"That can be arranged." The speaker said ominously but Ratchet obviously didn't falter.

"I am the only trained medic this tribe has. Go ahead. Slag me. I know for sure that you will follow after me into the Well in no time, either because the Magnus will kill you or because of your own stupidity and lack of proper medical attention."

The third voice broke in before the arrogant one could say anything else. It was a soothing voice with an exotic sounding accent that Megatron was sure would sound common and normal if it was used in his own language. "Please, Ratchet. I know him! Please, just let me talk with him. You and Optimus can observe if you fear that I will in any way harm him, which I won't, and you can kick me out if you decide that I am in any way hindering his recovery. Please. He is my friend."

But before said medic could answer, the arrogant one yelled that he didn't have time for this scrap and pushed past the red and white bot, sending him straight into the third one's servos, and stormed into the recovery room.

Before he was even fully aware of doing it, Megatron had snatched Optimus up and out of his seat, tucked him safely into his side and secured his grip on the mechling. His Fusion Cannon powered up loudly, rather ominously as he pointed it at the startled, big-chinned, blue with orange details bot that had just walked in, staring horrified at Megatron's growling face.

Optimus just blushed in his hold.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

Soon after the blue bot walked in, Ratchet and a big, purple mech Megatron had thought he will never see again rushed in, yelling at the intruder but stopping in their tracks when they saw that Megatron was protectively clutching Optimus, the mechling practically sprawled across his lap, his Fusion Cannon ready to fire at the perceived threat. Optimus was blushing like mad but the bigger mech wasn't about to let go of him. Ratchet was right about one thing. Up until this very moment, Optimus had been the only face he knew and he was not about to lose him as well. Not until he could leave this place.

However, upon seeing the biggest mech in the newly arrived group, Megatron relaxed slightly, even if his grip on Optimus never faltered. ''Shockwave?'' The shock colored his voice as much as happiness did and the mech didn't care. He had thought he had lost Shockwave, one of his closest friends, and yet here he was, alive and well. He was allowed to get a bit emotional, especially since he had been hurt.

Said purple and dark gray, almost black, mech with only one red optic and two antennas bowed respectfully, one clawed servo over his spark. ''Lord Megatron, I am pleased to see you are doing well. I apologize for ... never returning.''

Optimus turned to look Megatron in the optics and a small smile formed on his lips. ''So your name is Megatron...'' And it was only then that he realized that while the mechling had introduced himself, Megatron had never offered up his name. ''You are the famous mech to whom Shockwave is so loyal to. I heard a lot of stories about you.''

Red optics studied the bot he still refused to let go of. ''Shockwave was the one who thought you our language?'' He snorted before Optimus could answer. ''Of course he was. Who else?'' He turned to observe his friend carefully. ''Why didn't you ever come back?''

Shockwave started fidgeting under his lord and master's gaze but before he could answer, the only bot Megatron still didn't know the name off suddenly pushed his face into Megatorn's personal space, an energy shield in one arm and the other reaching for Optimus. ''Let go of him, you barbarian! Don't you worry Optimus, old buddy! Sentinel's here to save you!'' The warframe just growled and swatted at him with his cannon arm and sent him flying out of the tent, causing both younger Autobots to yelp and Ratchet suddenly to start screaming at him for destroying one of the walls of his home. Megatron sheepishly apologized for ruining the medic's home but he was not sorry for dealing with that insufferable fool.

With a still steady grip on Optimus, Megatron got up and off of the medical berth, towering over everyone in the tent. Ratchet and Optimus had to crain their necks a little but Shockwave only needed to tilt his helm a little. "Well?"

Shockwave looked at their audience and decided that this aught to be a private conversation, despite the whole tribe knowing the reasons why he stayed even with his undying loyalty to another mech. "Why don't you let Ratchet clear you for health so we can go outside and you can see where we are? I will tell you the whole story, my Lord, of that I can assure you."

Megatron looked at the two Autobots and nodded, finally letting go of Optimus but he grabbed his upper servo when the mechling made to move away. The red and blue bot looked at him with a confused expression on his faceplate but complied, staying standing close to the Lord. He left only after the gray mech thanked him, which was half a joor later when Ratchet finished up his last examination of Megatron before letting the Lord go.

Shockwave waited patiently for his Lord, like he always has and gestured outside for him before leading the way. Despite him being away from the Decepticons for so long, he was still perfectly aware of his duties towards Megatron as their supereme leader.

The Decepticons were once a part of the bigger population of Cybertron. They consisted of flier and grounder warframes, meaning that they were mechs and femmes onlined with integrated weaponry. Once upon a time, they had been tasked with protecting smaller bots, the civilianframes, but such times have long since been forgotten to the point that they were considered fairy tales and myths, the kind of stories told to sparklings before recharge. Megatron and Shockwave themselves grew up on such stories in their youth and they had always talked about one day finding the remaining civilians and protecting them, only to scoff at them in their mechling days and once again relive them after they found Soundwave as a youngling and told him the same stories they once thought of as a hidden truth. Megazarak had always only smiled at his only creation when young Megatron would start gushing about being the savior of civilians, a smile Megatron would remember and recognize as bitter only when he died. Galvatron was the one to finally tell him what drove his sire mad and ill all those years, despite him holding on so well.

Many vorns ago, long before more than half of Cybertron was the barren land it is now, there had been a war. A war with a species that wanted to enslave Cybertronians and take them apart to better their own weak bodies. Decepticons did their best to fight off these invaders but the aliens went after Iacon and Praxus and killed all civilians in those two megalopolises with a bomb that covered the northern hemisphere in rusted sand and ruins. Megazarak had been unable to do more than watch as those he has dedicated his functioning to protect were wiped out right before his optics. In their collective rage, the Decepticons destroyed the invading army, their ships blowing up one by one like fireworks across the skies.

As soon as the battle had been over, Megazarak and his brother Galvatron lead days worth of useless survivor searches until they found one frame, still smoldering and slowly turning to the same rusted sand that it was lying on. No living were found and all the dead that they _had_ spotted were in the same state. Megazarak never forgave himself and would have gone mad a long time ago had it not been for Galvatron and Megatron's carrier, who he met on one of the occasions that he was ready to off himself. A few hundred vorns later, they had Megatron but his carrier died giving birth to him; she never even got to say goodbye to her bonded or hi to her creation. Most feared that the grieving ex-warlord would blame the sparkling for his beloved's death, but while Megazarak was weeping, he latched on to Megatron like a drowning mech and loved him with his whole aching spark.

Megatron was brought out of his menories when bright sunlight hit his optics. After the time he spent in such heat and brightness before Optimus found him, he couldn't surpass the flinch he emitted when he stepped outside. He found it curious that Shockwave, usually unflappable, did so as well before soldering on like his Lord was doing. He forced his optics away from his long lost friend for a few seconds to take in his surroundings and found that he couldn't take them away from the sight he was seeing now.

All around him were mechs and femmes roughly Optimus's size, walking around, working and just going about their daily lives. They all had blue optics like Ratchet, Optimus and that annoying bot that had tried to take the mechling away from him. They were as brightly colored as well, rarely was there seen a dull color such as gray, black or brown for a primary color. The femmes were even smaller than the mechs and their sparklings were downright tiny! Megatron suddenly felt very aware of his every step, fearing the possibility of stepping on such small bots. But what surprised him the most was that they were wearing strange mesh cloths over most of their frames, obscuring the view of their pretty and hot little bodies.

Shockwave must have noticed his perplexed expression because he reverted to their birth language and explained. "Their plating is not nearly thick enough to withstand either the desert day's heat or the coolness of its night so they wear these things they call ponchos to ward off the unnecessary temperatures. I do not know if you remember the stories as well as I still do, but these indeed are civilianframes, my Lord." He said in his heavily accented voice that Megatron had missed so much.

"I remember the stories well, old friend. I just never thought that they were really true. Not even after Galvatron told me everything."

Shockwave nodded with a chuckle. "I myself have thought to be dead to be surrounded by them, but we are not in the Well, my Lord. This is still very much the land of the online."

The gray mech hummed. "So how did they survive? Galvatron said he and my sire searched everywhere and only found sand, more sand, a few rusted bodies that were falling apart and more sand. It's what finally caught up with Megazarak. It was always in his nightmares."

"That I do not know. The oldest generations you see here were sparklings that were forced to mature due to being exposed to a life threatening situation when they onlined. They had apparently been hidden somewhere near our Southern hemisphere by the civilians with some texts to alert your sire and uncle that they need protection but the sand covered the unit they were even under our radar. Once they all onlined, the biggest one was chosen for the leader and he led them out to the first energon oasis, which happens to be here. They started a community, which turned into the tribe it is now. They harvest energon crystals on fields and rely heavily on the energon spring they still have, but it was bigger. It started sinking a few vorns before I got here, but Optimus and Alpha Trion brought in-''

''Who's Alpha Trion?'' Megatron broke in and Shockwave blinked at him.

''He never told you about his mentor?''

''Who? Optimus?'' Shockwave nodded. ''He only mentioned that they traveled a lot.''

''Yes, well, did he tell you about Iacon?''

''That they passed it?'' The Lord raised an intrigued optics ridge. ''Sure, although that had surely surprised me.''

''Passed it? Oh no. Alpha Trion is the only survivor of the bombing. He actually comes from Iacon and Optimus was one of thirteen sparklings that survived the blast because they were hidden underneath the Great Archives of Iacon, but only Optimus made it before they started journeying around Cybertron, going from old city state to old city state in the northern hemisphere and collecting all cultural and historical materials. When they finally made it here, they settled and opened a small replacement archive for their stored data, but since no one can read it, they are the only source of information we have here.'' Shockwve said as he gestured to the bots around them, some of which had stopped to observe Megatron and ogle him. ''They are considered the scholars here, but also strangers.''

''Why? Some of them ought to be Iaconian as well.'' Megatron commented as he watched a passing group of sparklings that purposefully went that way only to see the gray mech up close, not that he minded. They were all very cute, belying the beauty they will grow into. ''Why shun them so?''

''Because they didn't online with them. Everyone you see here has either onlined together or are the children of the people that did. They may be considered important and are claimed to be tribe members, but they are still considered outsiders and aren't really trusted with some tribe ''secrets'', as if they can't just ask around and get their answers. Optimus is pretty much liked by others, even if he only has a handful of friends.'' Said mech could be seen walking a some distance away from them, an armful of data pads in his servos and sparklings running after him like ducklings.

''What of their supposed leader?''

''Ultra Magnus is the son of Maximus Magnus, who had onlined with the first sparklings. He is a good leader but he is getting a bit old. He's looking for a heir but has no mate,so for now he is searching among the youngsters of the tribe. There are three candidates considered good for the role. Sentinel, one bot named Rodimus and, of course, Optimus.'' The Lord was once again surprised. ''Yes, Optimus is considered for it. He is the only one who doesn't want to be in the position at all. Sentinel is too arrogant, as you may have noticed, Rodimus is too green and often very naive and has ideas that would probably be hazardous for the tribe but Optimus... Optimus doesn't want to lead others despite him being perfect for it. He wants to travel again and see new places and learn new things. He asked me to go with me if I ever go back, but I never did. Found something here that I couldn't leave. Anyway, because he is an outsider, some mechs feel ... uncomfortable with him being in charge despite Ultra Magnus liking him. As long as those mechs are against him, Optimus will never be a leader here.''

''I would not think so.'' Megatron said as he pointed at the sparklings circling Optimus as he sat down to read to them. Some of them even sat in his lap or on his shoulder struts. They quited down when he cleared his throat and settled down as he started reading to them, changing his expressions and tone of voice for each different character. ''They seem to like him. I would think that in a few years they would choose him over the others any time.''

''Most would even now.'' Shockwave nodded as they watched the sparklings shrieking in delight as Optimus acted out the story, occasionally gesticulating with his free servo or petting one of their little helms. He was a natural with sparklings and most of the tribe had nothing against him looking after them for the afternoon. ''But, as I said, they have prejudice and those things don't die easily, especially here. I don't know if Optimus told you, but they never did believe him that we exist, not even after-''

''You came, yeah, I know. Optimus did tell me. Do you know just who he had seen that day?''

The purple, one optic mech shrugged. ''I have no idea, but I would guess it to be a seeker. Anyway, how did you crash in the desert, my Lord? You know better than to venture out when there is a storm around the corner.''

''The point is that there hadn't been a storm detected by our scanners. Either we need to upgrade them or Cybertron's condition is getting worse.'' The Decepticon Lord answered without taking his optics off of Optimus, who was now frowning as the big-chinned fool came around the corner, calling his name and yelling something about wasting his time on orphaned sparklings and younglings. ''What about you? Don't tell me Optimus found you, too?''

''Actually, yes.'' Shockwave answered, also looking over the red and blue mechling as Sentinel started scrambling the children away from Optimus, who had stood up and was trying to chase Sentinel away without scaring the sparklings. ''When I left for that trip, I ventured too deep into the desert and a storm surprised me. I got knocked out and when I woke up, Optimus and his adopted brother were hovering over me in the medical tent. I was vary of them but it faded as soon as Optimus caught on to my speech pattern and started speaking in our language.''

''Wait. I thought you taught him?''

''Optimus has a special part of his processor that recognizes all known Cybertronin languages, something he downloaded from the Archives, that allowed him to learn out dictionary. His grammar was shaky and that is what I helped him with as he taught me their own language. He updated the program and you now got a completed version since Optimus had mastered our language.''

''A net trick.'' Was all he commented.

''Anyway, he taught me everything about their life style while I was recovering. The plan was to leave as soon as I was well enough to make the trip, but I found a reason to stay.''

''Really now?'' What could have possibly stopped Shockwave from returning to Megatron's side when he was one of the most loyal followers the Lord had?

''Optimus's adopted brother, Blurr ... He is my destined sparkmate, my Lord, and he won't leave this place without Optimus.'' He had no face to blush with but Megatron knew him well enough to know how to read his emotions by observing his one optic. It turned to a slit when he was angry, extended when he was surprised and shrank when he was scared. When he was happy, it glowed brighter while when he was sad it dimmed down. When he was embarrassed, it got larger and only slightly brighter, which was the case right now and Megatron's lips pulled up in a sly smile and he was about to tease him when Optimus finally snapped at Sentinel and told him to bugger off.

''Come now, Optimus! That is no way to treat your savior! After all, I protected you from that awful mech.'' The darker blue bot whined at the red and blue mechling, making Optimus's scrunch his face up in disgust and annoyance.

''In what reality was Megatron endangering me in that I needed _you_ to save me?'' The younger one asked as he finally got fed up with everything, collected his data pads, said bye to the sparklings and younglings still sticking around and turned to leave. ''First off, I am a better fighter than you. Secondly, Megatron and I were talking; you were disturbing the peace and he had thought you a threat, so he dealt with you. You wouldn't stand a chance against him, anyway, or have you already forgotten the trip through Ratchet's tent walls already. From what I hear, you landed near the Magnus's tent on the other side of the camp.''

''That was because I was going easy on him!'' Sentinel protested and Optimus rolled his optics skyward.

''Then you are a bigger fool than even I thought. You never go easy on an opponent you know nothing about. For all we know, he could have killed you with one flick of a servo... Actually, had his hit been the strength it could have been, you would be dead already.''

''Since when have you become an expert on warframe strengths and weaknesses?''

''I am friends with Shockwave already several vorns, Sentinel. I know quite a bit about them from both personal experience and from the many data pads from the Archives.'' Was the dry reply as Optimus continued walking, Sentinel not leaving him alone despite the other's clear as day annoyance with his presence.

''You should really spend less time in the library, Optimus! Your wasting yourself in there! Come on. Go drinking with me and Rodimus tonight! Even Elita will be there and you know she hates drinking since she can't hold her high grade.'' Sentinel leaned in and whispered something into a blue audio that had Optimus stopping in his tracks, face red with anger.

''Oh, here it comes!'' Megatron heard one of the other tribe mecha say and only now did he realize that as soon as Sentinel had arrived, several bots had stopped to watch the show. He turned to Shockwave, who only whispered that this happened on an almost daily basis. Sentinel seemed to have misunderstood Optimus's anger for embarrassment or excitement because he leaned against his back and continued to whisper things in his audios before the data pads fell to the floor with a clutter right before there was a thud when Optimus whipped around and kicked Sentinel to the ground as well. Megatron could only whistle with appreciation because he almost hadn't seen the mechling move with how fast he had did it. He was impressed.

''I will never, ever, ever, ever, _ever_ be with you Sentinel. **_Ever_**!'' With that, Optimus quickly collected his data pads and walked off, the tribe snickering after him as Sentinel called out ''I like it when you play hard to get, darling!'', much to Optimus's further frustration. He disappeared into a big cave that was partially covered by one of the numerous tents Megatron saw everywhere and didn't come out.

''That's the archives.'' Shockwave supplied seeing where his Lord's gaze had settled. He walked towards it and waved for Megatron to follow him. ''It's where you are most likely to find him. He and Alpha Trion live there while Blurr lives with me not far away. Blurr helps out most days, so there is the possibility that he is there as well, and I want you to meet him.''

''Answer me one question, though, Shockwave. You said Blurr won't leave this place without Optimus, yet Optimus would love to travel once again. What's stopping you all from going back home?'' He asked as he followed his old friend towards the library, taking care not to step on some younglings that ran past them.

''Well, as much as Blurr won't leave without Optimus, Optimus won't leave without Alpha Trion and Alpha Trion is very old now. He was old when he got here, he was old when he was traveling with Optimus, but he is even older now and not really suited for such a long distance trip. Optimus told Blurr to go with me, but neither of us wanted to leave him here, alone with these idiots after the old mech is gone. And one day he will be gone and Optimus would never be taken seriously as head archivist. Besides. they refuse to teach anyone to read because they don't know who to trust with the secrets Iacon's Archives have been keeping safe for all these centuries, so they don't let them leave the tribe camp. The best Optimus ever gets is when he sneaks out and wanders around a bit in the desert. That's how he found us both, my Lord. Besides, they need to let him go out every now and then because he knows how to find other energon springs, the temporary ones, and he brings back plenty fuel with him.''

''I see.'' Was all he got out before they entered the library and his breath was taken away. He had seen a library before, of course he had. Vos had one of the biggest libraries these days, but this was even bigger, even if a bit cramped. Then entire cave had been dug out by servo, making plenty of shelves in the walls and it was tall as the very miniature hill it had been placed in. Other shelves had been build from stone and metal to stand in the middle of the giant room and the part that was covered by the tent. There were even a few hanging from the ceiling, which had a huge hole in its center. It was covered in some sort of glass that was made by one of their scientists and engineers, Wheeljack, so it keeps the weather out but allows light in, making the place very bright but not blindingly so. Millions of data pads littered the room, surpassing even the numbers that were in Vos. There were also statues and pictures and maps strewn all over the place, making it look like an organized chaos. There were two desks made of a black metal Megatron knew was not anything he had ever seen before at the end of the room, pillars of data pads stacked on them and one of them was occupied by an old mech Megatron could only guess was Alpha Trion.

He was an old mech indeed. His coloration was actually a bit similar to Optimus's. He had mostly red plating with some gray that was lighter than Megatron's but way darker than Optimus's silvery color. He had an old helmet design and what looked like a mustache. His optics were almost the same color like Optimus's and he had some details on his body in a very light purple color. He was about the same height as the mechling, maybe a bit taller, but the red, blue and silver bot was bound to outgrow him in his last upgrade. He was a slim model and didn't hold the same strength Optimus did, but he had the same grace and carried himself the same way Optimus did, so they really ought to be from the same city state. The problem was that he didn't know whether that is Iacon or not, since he had never met an Iaconian.

Optimus's voice could be heard complaining from somewhere above and both Decepticons looked up only to stare at Optimus as the mechling hung upside down while he was placing some data pads on a particularly hard to reach shelf, a sky blue, pretty racer snickering below him and the old mech snorting every now and then.

''And then he dared to say I needed to loosen up! He only wants to get into my codpiece, that little cybervessel!''

Blurr fell out of his seat laughing. ''Please! Everyone wants to get under your poncho!''

Optimus looked down from overhead. ''And just what is so funny?''

''Your reaction each time!'' The still laughing mechling got out and Optimus snorted. Alpha Trion was trying to keep his own snickers at bay with very little success. ''But I don't. Neither do Shockwave or Alpha Trion.''

''You and Alpha Trion are family and if Shockwave tried it, I would have to return him to the desert in a far worse state than he had been when I found him.''

''Poor mech.'' Alpha Trion commented, returning to his reading. ''And what is this new mech like? Megatron, you said?''

''Seems nice enough. He threw Sentinel out of Ratchet's tent, so that's a great big plus for him.'' Optimus commented before letting go and landing with grace. ''Besides, you can get your own opinion on him. It would seem that Shockwave has brought him in.'' Blurr and Alpha Trion both looked up and saw the two mentioned Decepticons just standing thee and staring at them as Optimus readjusted his poncho from where it had almost been over his head when he had been hanging by the legs.

''Um, hello.'' Was all they said but Blurr greeted them happily while Trion stared at them for a few moments. Well, at Megatron, anyway. After those few moments were over, the red, gray and purple old mech said only one short sentence.

''Well, slag.''


	3. Chapter 3

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

Megatron stared at the old mech as Trion got up and walked over towards him. The old mech observed him for a few kliks, circling around him until he came to a stop right in front of him. He took in his fray color, his helm shape and the sharp and curvy design of his alt mode before raising his blue optics to Megatron's red stare.

"Truly slag! Are you perhaps related to either Galvatron or Megazarak? You look an awful lit like them, so you must be in direct relation to one of them." He asked after a few seconds. Megatron blinked at him.

"Megazarak was my sire and Galvatron was my uncle, but how do you know them?"

Trion ignored him and seemed to be deep in thought. "So that's where anyone would come up with the name Megatron."

"How did you know them?"

That snapped the old bot out of his musings. "They never told you?"

"Told me what?" He was getting impatient now. It was still a sore spot for him to talk about his sire and uncle, despite it being several vorns already for his sire and a few orns for his uncle.

"Yes, I'm interested too." Shockwave commented. He and Megatron grew up like brothers, Galvatron and Megazarak having had adopted him like he and Megatron had adopted Soundwave. He must be pissed that he had kept any information about them for all these years.

"Why that we were the closest of friends, of course!" He exclaimed, clearly surprised that it wasn't as obvious to them as it ought to be. "We were really close. In fact, I used to help them in their studies before the war. When they became mechs and the war started, I would keep some of their maps and plans stored in the Archives so no one could steal them. When the bombing occurred, I never got the chance to contact them to tell them that I will be hiding in the vault beneath the ground. The Archives had been built to withstand anything, and they have, might I say," Optimus rolled his optics good naturally while Blurr watched in amusement as his mate itched to record all this new information like a true Intelligence bot would. Megatron listened with rapt attention as neither Galvatron nor Megazarak had ever told him about Alpha Trion. "I was stuck for weeks but then I got out and walked around the ruins of Iacon before I found thirteen sparklings. Only thirteen out of hundreds survived." He said sadly as his optics glazed over, clearly remembering that particular moment in time.

Optimus walked over to him and put a servo on his shoulder, bringing him back from his rewire and the old bot shook his helm as if to shake it off. "Anyway, I took them in so I couldn't leave Iacon the next few orns, but every sparkling but one died. I knew chances of survival were slim so I never named them until that one survivor lived up to seven orns and accompanied me on one of our first searches for energon. Since he survived it, never got hurt and gave me courage and hope to keep going," he looked away from them to settle a fond gaze on Optimus, who only smiled gently at him. "I named him Optimus."

Alpha Trion looked back at the two Decepticons, who had been completely immersed in the story up to that point. When his wise gaze stopped on them, they quickly snapped out of their dream-like state and focused their attention on him. "I never got a chance to return to them. I was too busy with raising and training Optimus and then we set off on our self-appointed mission to collect all of the remaining data pads on the northers hemisphere. We went from Iacon to Praxus to Tyger Pax to Acrplex and so on until we stumbled upon this tribe. And that's about it."

Megatron felt the need to ask why they never continued on to Kaon or Vos or Tarn but then he remembered how Shockwave had explained that the tribe would never let two scholars like them go. As soon as these Autobots learned that Optimus and Alpha Trion could read, they claimed them as the tribe's property and impeded them to leave. They were literally prisoners with a larger cell and seeing as how far they had traveled to get all those data pads, they could never just sneak out and leave it all behind.

So this way the life Optimus was forced into? It didn't seem befitting of a mechling so free and independent to be stuck in one place without his consent. Alpha Trion had lived long and seen plenty, and despite their nomadic style of life before coming to the tribe, Optimus obviously still wanted adventure, maybe was even seeking for a place to belong. He was young and he obviously didn't fit here despite his best efforts. Maybe he will with time and changing, but was it truly fair, really right for him to change only so he would be liked? No, no it was not.

"So you're stuck here." Was his comment and he thought he saw Optimus flinch but it was so subdued that it could have been a figment of his imagination.

"Unfortunately."

There was a moment of tense silence that fell over them. It was broken with the entrance of a tall but still clearly civilian blue, white and gray mech that carried around a big hammer, that annoying Sentinel and another red, orange and brown bot right behind him. He looked at the bots assembled in the library and sighed, moving to come closer. That triggered Megatron and Shockwave to step a bit in front of the three bots behind them, an instinctive reaction that the Lord had not known them to posses. Sure, he had heard that the Decepticons were meant to protect the civilians, but he had never known that it was on such a deep, subconscious level. The bigger mech stopped in his tracks but didn't draw weapons, unlike his companions who had drawn that silly shield and some spear like sword or whatever it was and an energy bow and arrows. Megatron felt his battle protocols coming online and he heard Shockwave's doing the same, the cave that was a substitute archive filling up with the sound of warframe programing coming to life.

''That is enough, Sentinel, Rodimus. Put your weapons down.'' The white and blue mech ordered and the two reluctantly put their weapons away but the battle protocols were still humming and the mech turned back to them. ''If you would please refrain from killing any of my people, I would be very thankful.''

Megatron snorted but did his best to turn off his protocols, Shockwave having a bit more luck with it since he had to do this quite often here. However, as soon as Optimus was there, his smaller serve resting on his forearm, Megatron relaxed enough for the protocols to go on standby and not be active. He cast a glance at the mechling but those blue optics were focused on the three Autobots in front of them so the Decepticon Lord followed his lead and looked back at the three.

"Now, I hope we can settle everything in a civil manner." He said and extended his servo towards Megatron. "I am Ultra Magnus, leader or chief of this tribe, the Autobots. These are my protégées, Sentinel and Rodimus," he pointed at each bot as he said their names. "As I see, you have already met Alpha Trion and his own protégées," Megatron nodded, making sure that he was at least half a step in front of Optimus. He owed the bot his life, he wasn't risking anything. Especially not after Blurr's comment about everyone wanting to interface with him. "And you seem to be familiar with Shockwave."

"I am." Was all he said and the two bots behind Magnus shied away upon hearing how deep his voice was.

"He's even bigger when he's standing!" Sentinel muttered to himself, never taking his optics off of the gray mech.

"He's _bigger_ than Shockwave! I thought there was _no bot_ bigger than Shockwave!" Rodimus hissed at him. "Why didn't you fragging tell me he's bigger than _Shockwave_?!"

Shockwave and Megatron both snorted. "Of course I'm bigger. Shockwave is a grounder warframe while I am a flier. It is quite normal for us to have a size difference. Fliers need more space for a bigger engine and bigger fuel tanks, not to mention the-"

"Nobot can fly." Sentinel cut in with a misplaced surety that was bordering arrogance. Megatron looked at him incredulously but he was even more so when Ultra Magnus nodded. He turned to look at Shockwave, who seemed used to this, then to the three Autobots behind him. Alpha Trion was rubbing his optical ridge and Blurr was rolling his optics. When his faze fell on Optimus, the mechling just shrugged.

"I told you; cocoon of ignorance."

"Well, they do say ignorance is bliss." Blurr commented, causing the two Iaconians to snort and Rodimus to giggle. It would seem that he was a nice guy unlike Sentinel.

"It's not ignorance but proven fact. No bot, not even Blurr, is light enough to fly."

"That's what turbo flight thrusters are for!" Megatron all but yelled. "And wings and flight stabilizers! Why the frag do you think we are this big?! For show?" Optimus was snickering behind him as they watched the others's rather comical expressions. Shockwave was doing his best not to follow either of them. ''Do any of you have any CPU power in those processors of yours?''

''Excuse me?'' Sentinel hissed but stepped back when the Fusion Cannon hummed. Then Megatron yelped as Alpha Trion walked up behind him and swatted at the back of his helm. ''Hey!''

''Don't do that.'' The old mech scolded. ''It's Galvatron's thing and I didn't like it on him either, so don't do that.''

Behind Ultra Magnus, Rodimus was mouthing his uncle's name at Optimus in a questioning manner. He felt the mechling gesturing in a way that's supposed to imply that they'll talk later. Megatron noted that those two seemed to be close, friends of sorts, and he knew that even though Shockwave described him as childish and naive, he was sure he has a lot more tact than that Sentinel fellow.

::They're close friends.:: He heard over his commlink but since only Shockwave was within range of his still damaged comms, he knows who's it from. :: One of those handful of friends I've mentioned.::

''So you expect us to believe you can fly?'' Ultra Magnus questioned. ''Care to prove that?''

Megatron crossed his arms over his chest. ''I would like to, but my thrusters are still healing. I _have_ crashed into the desert not that long ago.''

''And we're supposed to believe that? Did you put him up to this, Optimus?'' The big-chinned mech turned to the red and blue mechling. ''I can't believe you'd go this far just so you would prove yourself right about something that has been known as fact long before you were onlined.''

Optimus bristled. ''I am not lying nor am I delusional, Sentinel. I know what I saw.''

''Please! Perceptor did all the calculations. There is no way any mech could fly, even with turbo thrusters.''

''Of course not every mech can fly!'' Megatron scuffed. ''There are special components that allow flight that only warframes have. You can implant it into civilians but they're never going to have a flight alt mode. I've heard of a few civilian flightframes but they were rare. It required intercourse between warframes and civilianframes and those were rare because they usually sought love in their own species. Strengthening the CNA line, or something. However, that is not the point of this conversation. The point is that I don't care whether you believe me or not. I'd be grateful if you'd just keep away from me. I have promised not to eliminate any of you, so at least honor me enough not to tempt me.''

Rodmius guffawed and Optimus smiled. Blurr was rolling around, having completely given up on trying to keep his laughter secret or at least quiet. ''Primus! You're killing me! Are all warframes comedians?''

''No, but Lord Megatron is known for his sarcasm quite well. Trained Tarnian comedians have been left jobless because of it.'' Shockwave supplied helpfully.

Megatron raised an optic ridge at the brown, orange and red mech. ''Fear me, Autobot.''

Rodimus joined Blurr on the floor while Alpha Trion simply shook his helm, muttering something about Megazarak and how similar his son was to him. Megatron smirked and looked over to Optimus, who had moved away from his side and was searching through one of the shelves to his left. He observed him as the mechling searched for something, only to see him struggling to reach something on a higher shelf. Without thinking, Megatron walked over and lifted him up effortlessly, startling the red, blue and silver bot. A yelp escaped him and now everyone was staring at them as Optimus turned around to steady himself by hugging Megatron's helm from the side. The Autobots were staring at them while Megatron just looked at the bot in his hold. Optimus locked optics with him for a moment before grinning thankfully and reaching for the data pad he had been searching for. He never told Megatron to put him down and he was pretty light for someone his size, so the Lord had no problem hold him. Besides, he was now out of Sentinel's reach and he seemed to be enjoying the new view point.

Blurr recovered from his laughing fit and walked over to where his adopted brother was sitting on Megatron's shoulder now. ''What are you looking for?''

''I'm pretty sure that there is a file on fliers here somewhere. I remember reading it once, but it's not detailed. However, there is a picture in there so it should be useful as proof for the existence of flightframes.'' Optimus explained.

''You've already showed them those files, Optimus. They won't believe you.'' The smaller bot reminded but Megatron's savior just snorted.

''I don't really care. I want to see how much of the facts that are listed here are correct and I want to expand it.''

''Spoken like a true archivist.'' Trion snorted, going back to his desk and reading.

Optimus grinned. ''I've learned from the best.''

Ultra Magnus decided to cut into this, to him, pointless banter. ''As far as I am concerned, you can do as you wish regarding this situation with Megatron here.'' The blue and white mech gestured with his helm at the Decepticon. ''However, before you start asking any questions, I would actually like to have a discussion with him regarding his stay with the tribe. Follow me?''

Megatron reluctantly placed the younger mech down and said his goodbyes before walking after the Magnus. He heard Rodimus walk over to Optimus and start gushing about him always having an adventure when he leaves the camp. ''I mean, I would have never been able to find him, much less drag him back into camp. I actually don't think I'd have the courage to do it.''

''There's no courage about it. A mech needed help and I was there to help him. And I only found him through luck.'' He heard Optimus say but the other mech scoffed.

''Optimus, I know for a fact that you saw something fall in the desert that day. You left without getting me or Blurr cover for you here because you were in a hurry. You knew there was a possibility for someone to get hurt and you searched for hours until you found him and dragged him back. I have no idea how you did that, if his wight is proportionate with his size, but I bet my bow it was no easy task.''

The library remained quiet until they exited so Megatron never heard Optimus's answer, but these little facts Optimus had left out of his story about finding him were intriguing. He agreed with Rodimus; there was no way Optimus hadn't struggled to drag him back and he had crashed around midday while he only saw Optimus at dusk. Was the mechling really searching for that long?

''I see that you are trying to crack the mystery that is Optimus.'' Ultra Magnus commenter from in front of him and Megatron returned his attention to the mech. ''He is an enigma, is he not? We've all given up on understanding him. He is too young to be predictable. After all, this was not the first or the 500th time that he escaped in the past 13 vorns they have been here.''

''Thirteen vorns? But Shockwave said that they came here when he was a younling or something. How can he still be a mechling? Not to mention that he was a sparkling onlined just after the bombing.''

''Bombing?''

''Never mind.''

''Optimus is an older generation of bots that no longer seem to exist. He matures at his own rate mentality-wise but his frame develops a lot slower than us. As a result, we believe he will outlive us.'' Ultra Magnus decided to not delve on what Megatron had just dismissed and instead focused on a topic he could talk about.

''Older generation?''

Magnus nodded. ''The type of frame that existed before we were onlined. Alpha Trion tells us that bots used to have longer lives and that Cybertron used to be stable enough for them to know they had a clear future. Something is destroying our home now and since that's endangering our lives, Alpha Trion hypnotizes that we're all living faster so that we are ready for when things turn for the worst.''

''Makes sense. Sparklings wouldn't be able to survive in these conditions without adult help. And there is that saying: it takes a city-state to raise a sparkling.'' A startled laugh escaped the Autobot leader.

''Truly. We have a lot of sparklings and it is hard raising them unless we work together. I do not know how Alpha Trion raised Optimus all on his own, especially since he loves being curious.'' Ultra said as they finally entered a big tent. It was obviously a leader's place as it had a big symbol he had seen on everyone but Shockwave, Optimus and Alpha Trion. There were rugs made of soft metal mesh and a big berth on the other side of the tent. A big table with tow chairs was placed at the center of it and there was a shelf beside it, a few data pads there. Megatron took immediate not of is as he remembered Shockwave telling him that only Tony and Alpha Trion could read so he was wondering why they were there. Ultra Magnus saw what he was looking at and sighed. ''Optimus and Alpha Trion have stacked it here. It's reports of every one of our scientists, field workers or scouts. They believe that we should have it all recorded for future purposes. I don't know what is written on them other than that it should be something that will be calculated at the end of every groon.''

''Improvement progress?''

''I don't think they are happy when they do the math.''

''That's never good.'' Megatron walked over to the shelf and took one of the pads in his servo, wondering how the thing wasn't breaking in his grasp when it was so small. The data pads back in Kaon were so easily destroyed it was refreshing to be allowed to hold it like it was a normal object and not having to hold it like it was made of glass. ''Impressive. They don't break.''

''Iaconian made.''

''Should have guessed. Iacon was known for having millions of these.'' The Decepticon Lord commented.

''Can you read it?''

''It's in the northern hemisphere dialect, the one specific for Iacon. I have no idea what it says, but the numbers are same everywhere and these numbers don't show anything good if they're never happy.'' Megatron took another from the bottom of the shelf. ''Were these the first ones put in?''

''Yes. They put them from the right to the left.''

''That's strange.'' He mumbled. ''Shockwave was an Intelligence Agent, actually the Head of our Intelligence Agency. The only time they put things from the right to the left is when they know something bad is developing.'' He took another data pad from the top shelf from the middle. ''Whatever is progressing, it's not good. And if Alpha Tion has told you about the deterring state of Cybertron, then I fear it might be about Cybertron finally dying.''

''You can't mean?''

''Yes.'' A voice behind them says and they turn to see a resigned looking Alpha Trion. ''The end of our world is coming.''

''What?''

''Can't we do anything?'' A panicked Ultra demanded, stepping closer to the Iaconian but Trion took a step away. It was a clear sign: don't come closer. ''There must be something we can do to stop it. To save our planet!''

Megatron looked seriously at the old bot but Alpha Trion was looking to the side. He was hiding something and it had to do with the possible salvation of the planet. But why was he hesitating. ''You know something yet your are not doing anything that you know could save the planet. Why?''

Those old optics locked on him. ''We have some time but we don't have the right resources. The main one is missing and not just anybot can retrieve it.''

''You know who can?''

Alpha Trion stayed quiet and they had an intense stare down for five breem before Alpha Trion walked over to the shelf, placed in another data pad in its designated place before leaving. The two larger bots stared after him and then looked back at the newest data pad. Megatron took it and looked at the numbers. They were showing that the increase in bad things that he couldn't read was bigger than before.

''He knows who can do it.'' Ultra Magnus said as he came to stand next to him.

''Yes.'' Megatron nodded, looking at the numbers. He had a bad feeling. ''I think I do, too.''


	4. Chapter 4

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

A joor later, Megatron finally left Ultra Magnu's s tent. They had been discussing Megatron's stay and the Autobot had decided to leave him in the closest tent to the library since both Optimus and Shockwave and is far away from the others so that they don't bother him. Much. He was surprised, however, when he saw Optimus standing in front of his new temporary home, two data pads in his servo.

He walked up to the mechling who smiled up at him. ''What are you doing here?''

''Besides coming here to wish you a welcome to the neighborhood, I would really like to know a few things. The files on fliers are few and far in between. I have no idea what is true and what is speculation. However, I would like to ask you some questions, if that's alright.'' He smiled the whole time he said this even as he walked into Megatron's new home before its new owner himself. Megatron raised an optic ridge at this but shrugged and followed him in.

He was pleasantly surprised by the tent. Shockwave must have had a hand in decorating it, since it was just like how Megatron liked it. There was a berth big enough for him to comfortably sleep in and there was a desk and a chair for him to sit in if he decided to work or read anything, since he wasn't the type to read anything, anywhere other than his desk. There was a small bowl of cleaning solvents meant for when he wants to clean himself and there were three cubes of energon, the energon Megatron could recognize even from the other side of the tent as jet fuel and he wondered where they could have found it. There was a small shelf of data pads that he could tell was in the Decepticon dialect and he sighed in relief, knowing that he'll have something to relax to. By his berth side there was a couple of blank pads he guessed were for him to write on and he was happy with that. Yep, Shockwave decorated his place. Unlike his old firend, Megatron could not stay. He had the entirety of Decepticons to lead and he was already away for far too long, but there was no way he would make a flight from ... wherever New Iacon was stationed all the way back to Kaon without falling, further injuring himself or even being left unable to fly ever again.

''I take it it's to your liking?'' Optimus asking him snapped him out of his musing and he looked back over to the mechling only to find him sitting comfortably on his berth. Now Megatron was embarrassed, because in the Decepticon culture only one's mate or temporary partner ever got into their berth. Not even friends sat on someone's berth without them wanting to take their relationship to a whole new level. Of course, Optimus didn't know that so he couldn't just tell the mechling to get up without explaining why and he would rather not embarrass them both and make tings awkward between them. He had only known the red, blue and light silver young mech for a few joors but he knew that he liked his company and would rather keep it.

''Yes, it is. I am guessing that Shockwave had a hand in decorating this?'' The gray mech said and moved over to the desk. He sat in the chair and relaxed into it. It was comfortable and his stabilizers still hurt somewhat, since hey had apparently taken the most damage in his unfortunate crash landing. Standing up so long had been tiring but it was how the Autobots discussed things. Apparently, sitting down is considered an offense because it means you aren't rally interested or even bored with the conversation. Thankfully, Ultra Magnus had not taken offense and had simply explained the situation and Megatorn had taken it all in stride. That, however, doesn't mean that his pedes didn't hurt like pit.

Optimus nodded as he rearranged his data pads. ''Yeah, he was a great help. I mean, Alpha Trion and I would have placed a desk here but we would have never placed another chair in here since we got used to how the Autobots do things so only one chair would have been here. And we didn't know your exact size, but Shockwave told us so we bought you a big enough berth in time.''

''Wait, you did this?'' He gestured at the brightly lit tent with a few mesh carpets. Optimus nodded happily, optics brights, obviously proud of himself for a job well done. ''Where the frag did you get jet fuel?''

Optimus chuckled as he finally got comfortable for long conversations. ''Well, besides finding mechs in distress, I often find various things in the sand when I go exploring. I'm sure that everyone has by now told you that I often sneak out of the camp, right?'' The Lord nodded and Optimus's optics got this glazed, faraway look to them. ''Well, I find all sorts of things when I get restless and leave. I've spent a good part of my life traveling so this staying in one place thing is really getting on my nerves, but Alpha Trion isn't so young anymore and Blurr seems to somewhat like it here. As long as Alpha Trion has data pads and as long as Blurr has space to run, they'll be happy, but I still feel like there's still so much to see, so much to explore, so much to do that staying here often drives me crazy.'' He sighed sadly, obviously imagining all the things he could be doing now instead of sitting in this tribe's camp and just talking with a warframe. ''I still feel like I don't belong here.''

''So you are looking for somewhere you would belong?''

Optimus shook his helm gently. ''Not quite. I know that if it were still standing, I would belong in Iacon. Or I would be traveling all over Cybertron and seeing new things and all that. But, no. I still feel like I need to do something and I don't know what.''

''What do you mean?'' Megatron leaned forward, resting his servos on the surface of the desk, intrigued. ''What would you have to do?''

''I don't know.'' Optimus said sadly. ''Can you keep a secret?'' He was looking at Megatron with hopeful optics, as if he wanted to get something off of his chassis but didn't have anyone he would dare tell it to and he had just stumbled upon the right person to share this secret with. Megatron raised an optic ridge and nodded and that seemed to be enough for Optimus as he looked up to the ceiling after checking the entrance of the tent. ''I ... often dream of this ... place. It's strange. There are pillars that are holding up this big circle of metal, as tick as the pillars. Sometimes it looks brand new ... other times the pillars have sand against them. When the circle above them glows, the sand is reducing. It doesn't look like particles of rust anymore ... just normal sand. In those dreams, I see what I hope for Cybertron to become. Other times ... other times I feel like I'm in a nightmare." A shudder ran through his body and Megatron looked at him worriedly. "Everything looks dead, as if nothing lives on Cybertron anymore. Those dreams fill me with dread and I know that there's nothing I can do to change anything."

"So you think you could save Cybertron in those other dreams?" Megatron asked after a moment of silence. Optimus shook his head to clear the haze from remembering those dreams before focusing on him once again.

"I would like to think so, yes, but I sincerely doubt it."

"How come?" He couldn't believe that someone who always looked so confident could sound so insecure. It was nothing like the Optimus he first met.

"I don't really know what I could do to fix any of ... this." He encompassed with his servo the entirety of the room but metaphorically meaning the whole desert thing and Cybertron's obviously dithering health.

"What about your dreams, then?"

"The strange place that in some variations heals Cybertron?" He asked incredulously, looking at Megatron in a way no one had ever looked at him before. "It's dreams. They may not be true, but even if they are, and that's a considerable if right there, how are we supposed to find it? Or to activate it? My dreams don't exactly include an instructions manual nor do they have a map with an X marking the spot!"

"But it's something to give people so that they don't lose hope." Megatron insisted and it got him an even weirder look. "Don't look at me like that; it's a perfectly sound suggestion."

"For any other people other than the Autobots. I thought that I told you about their cocoon of ignorance." Megatron grunted as the only answer. It was enough for Optimus to continue. "They don't believe me about flightframes. Why would they believe me about this?"

"I guess I see your point."

"And now that we are once again on the topic of flightframes, I would like to ask a few questions, if that is alright?" Optimus said and took his data pads. Megatron nodded, still not happy but he did want Optimus to stay a bit longer. It was a strange thing to feel about a relatively complete stranger but he didn't mind as Optimus was pleasant company. "Okay. How large can flightframes be?"

Megatron smirked and leaned back in his seat. "Just flightframes?"

The red and blue bot shrugged. "There are more files on ground based warframes but only one or two incomplete ones about fliers."

The Lord nodded. "That is because my father, Megazarak, and my uncle, Galvatron, took everything after the last war once they gave up hope of ever finding either survivors or civilian bodies."

Optimus, who had been writing it all down with lightning speed, stopped and looked up at Megatron. "That reminds me. Shockwave often said some things about civilians or civilianframes, looking both sad and elated. Care to explain?"

"There are two frame types," Megatron obliged the request and put up two fingers. "Warframes and civilians. The frames then differ in size and engine type, then in processor types and last, but not the least, in subspace purposes."

"What do you mean?" The curious mechling asked and the older bot chuckled.

"Patience." Optimus blushed and ducked his helm sheepishly in a very cute fashion. "You see, civilianframes use subspace only for storing things that they pick up. Warframes have bigger subspace that they use for weapons storage. Civilians can carry weapons as well, but they are not weapons that they are born with. Warframes, however, are sparked with tons of weaponry that are as much a part of their frame as their optics are." He paused to let Optimus write down whatever he wanted and used the opportunity to watch him when he was completely focused on a task. When Optimus threw a glance at him, the warframe continued. "And that's not mentioning how much ticker our armor is or just how our senses are far more sensitive than a civilian's. My sire often told me that if both a civilian and a warframe were sent to find a specific object by only using their senses, the warframe would find it at a 95% success ratios while the civilian would find it with only 45% chances of success, all the while the warframe would complete this task in under two joors while a civilian would do it 5-8 joors, if he does it at all. Then again, my uncle told me just as often that civilians get stranger personal mods so I wouldn't know if any such civilian could be beat by a warframe. But this is general for warframes. Then there are special frame types among us."

"Special how?" Optimus had been writing at such speed that Megatron was shocked he had not started a small fire. When he didn't continue, the mechling looked up as soon as he finished his writing. He saw what his companion was staring at and smiled, a little bitter and a lot of sorrowful. "Oh. Yeah, it's a ... technique, a way of writing and typing that only Archivists use. Well, used to use, I guess. Alpha Trion taught me since I was little so I am quite good at recording every bit of information I see, here or get."

"How do you learn such a skill?" It didn't make sense to him. As far as he was concerned, Optimus was performing a miracle just by keeping up with what he was saying in notes, let alone if he really recorded his whole speech!

"You can't really learn it, per see. You need to be connected to the Grid and if you can keep up with the slowest flow, then you have a possible data clerk level processor, so you can work on the Grid. And if you can work on the Grid, then you can do what I am doing." The red, blue and silver bot handed over the data pad to the gunmetal gray mech and his red optics nearly fell out of his helm when he saw that everything he has said, word for word, was written in nice, neat glyphs.

"I thought that the Grid is down?"

"It is, but Iacon's Archives are still in workable condition. The data pads that Alpha Trion and I brought here are copies we made ourselves during our travels. Another thing only a data clerk level processor can do is what we do on a daily basis and that's memorizing and storing enormous amounts of data in our processors. We literally know every word of every documented file we have ever read. One of the reasons I only needed help in learning your language to a speakble degree. I knew the words and the grammer, but the syntheses were beyond me. It's also the reason I know that what I saw was a flightframe and not a figment of my imagination."

"So you and your mentor are traveling libraries." Megatron said in awe and Optimus beamed at the positive reaction. The poor bot must have gotten used to all the bad opinions that the others had of him and his mentor and their secret-keeping of such amounts of information that this was a delight to hear.

"We are also the only ones who know how to access what is left of the Grid, but since there are no more data clerks, it may be a bit too much for everyone."

"Shockwave is an Intelligence Agent. The Head of the division, actually. Don't you think he would be able to deal with it since he, too, deals with loads of information every day?" Megatron questioned but he didn't expect the snort he got with his answer.

"Shockwave must be a great Intelligence Agent but he doesn't have the processor level needed for working on the Grid." When he saw that Megatron wasn't convinced, Optimus sighed and put his data pad down, focusing his full attention on Megatron. "Okay, let's go about it like this. You said Shockwave deals with a lot of information every day, right?" A nod from the larger bot. "Right. So, imagine if all of that information was multiplied by five and flowing all around you, organized in thousands of different ways by each new data clerk, passing by you in milliseconds. Every millisecond. For joors and days on end."

Megatron paused to imagine. He could just see all the reports poor Shockwave used to bring in in every meeting and he could remember, like it was yesterday, the way he would drone on and on about them and all the sources he had to go through. His optics widened once again as he imagined all of that, multiplied by five and constantly flowing. "How can anyone ever do that!?"

Optimus shrugged. "I have lived with it my whole life so I wouldn't know. What's it like to be able to fly?"

"I guess that the answer would be the same." Megatron conceded and they sat in silence, just staring at each other for about five breems when suddenly a black, gold and cream colored mech almost soundlessly walked right into Megatron's tent. The owner of said tent tensed up but Optimus smiled at the blue-visored, stealthy Autobot two-wheeler.

"Prowl, what can I do for you?" The red and blue mechling asked and the mentioned other mechling took in their relaxed poses and hesitated.

"It's ... Kup wants you to help him train the new recruits he got. I was passing by and he told me to get you."

"Oh." You could clearly see that Optimus wasn't happy with being interrupted in their nice conversation but he got up and off of Megatron's berth anyway. The Lord and this ... Prowl watched him as he stored his data pads before the black and gold Autobot left and Optimus turned to wave friendly at Megatron, causing the Decepticon's spark to skip a beat before the mechling was out of his sight. Megatron stared after him and an involuntary sigh left him as he slumped in his chair.

 _'What is wrong with me? What is it about Optimus that makes me act this way?_ ' These were his last thoughts before he fell into recharge in a very awkward position at his desk.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

 **A/N: Hi! I know it's been a long time coming for a new chapter of this story, but not only have I been busy, but I've gotten a bit addicted to Naruto, so I was first watching episodes and then a story had popped into my head and I found myself unwillingly neglecting my other stories. Due to the need to finish The Hidden Truths of the Village Hidden in the Leaves as soon as I can while I still actually remember where I have been going with the story, other fics might be a bit slow in the updating. Not only that, but Cosmic is forever is also waiting for the next chapter update. I really hope you can forgive me this inconvenience and I hope you will continue reading this story despite it.**

 **That's all for now! Please enjoy this chapter and fell free to leave a comment!**

 **Bye!**

The next morning, Megatron was so surprised to wake up with a staring Shockwave hovering over him like a worried metalohen that he nearly jumped out of his seat in his haste to bring up his Fusion Cannon. The oneopticed mech just stared at him in that fashion Megatron had learned while growing up with him to mean that he was very much not impressed with whatever Megatron planned for them to do but would follow him anyway for, as he usually said, safety reasons. The Lord always suspected it to actually be a mix of utter loyalty and desire for free entertainment.

The worst thing is that Soundwave picked it up as well when they were making a joint effort of trying to raise him as a normal sparkling and the younger mech now used the look in such a way that would give Shockwave a run for his money. And make him proud! Then again, he had two optics behind his red visor, so that gave him an unfair advantage.

"What are you doing here?" Megatron asked, still not happy to be woken in such a way. He was used to Shockwave's weirdness but even he has limits, slag it.

"I came to see if you were alright, my Lord, since it is noon and you have yet to leave your tent. Didn't expect you to still have desk naps, though." The purple mech deadpanned in his dry humor and the gray Decepticon groaned as he ran a servo over his face. It was another thing Soundwave had picked up from Shockwave: nagging Megatron about his sleeping habits, his refueling habits, his workaholic habits, his not-showing-any-emotions habits ... Just about any habits the gray mech had, really. It was a subtle form of nagging but still very annoying and very obvious to Megatron and all of those who were in his inner circle. Galvatron had feared that, after Shockwave's disappearance, no one would be there to bully Megatron into taking a break or eating, but there was no need for worry as Soundwave was there and wasn't planning on leaving. Ever.

Megatron repressed another groan as thoughts of his adopted younger brother (as he and Shockwave had grown up like brothers, they had decided to care for Soundwave in the same way and let him in to their little family unit) flooded his CPU and he felt guilty for all the worry the dark blue mech must be going through. Shockwave, Primus bless him, could still read Megatron like an unprotected data pad and knew instantly what he was thinking. "Soundwave is smart and strong, my Lord. You need not worry for him so much. He will hold out until you go back."

Megatron looked up at him. "You still set on staying?"

The purple mech shifted uneasily. "I already told you how the situation is, Lord Megatron. I am sorry but I cannot leave my sparkmate."

He just waved him off. "No need for apologies, old friend. I guessed your answer. I'm just glad you are alright and alive. Although I won't lie that I would like you to come back with me."

Shockwave nodded and sat on the edge of Megatron's desk since he didn't feel like sitting on a chair. "I, too, would prefer to go back to Kaon since everyone here is so limited in their ways of thinking but being here has also taught me that we, too, are rather limited in the same way. Not the same subjects or reasons but still ... Haven't we also thought them to be mere legends? None of our generation believed in the stories of our elders but you and me, and even we eventually dismissed their existence. In this way, we are very limited, as we believe to know everything yet we really don't know anything."

Megatron stared at his old friend for a moment before allowing his helm to pound against his new desk, wondering what in Primus's name they were talking about so soon after he woke up. When he heard the telltale rattling of Shockwave's armor that suggested he was laughing his aft off but trying to conceal it, he looked up with a fearsome glare on his faceplate. It took a few kliks but the purple mech finally stopped laughing.

"And since when have you become so insightful?" Was Megatron's sneered response, still peeved about being laughed at. He got up and walked over to where he knew the three energon cubes were. He took one and settled back down to refuel just as Shockwave began answering.

"Since I met a couple of Iaconians, both of whom have more than we could have ever hoped to see."

"Makes sense."

"Something is bothering you, isn't it?" Megatron didn't answer and he really didn't need to. Like he had already thought; bless Primus for still allowing Shockwave to read him like an unprotected data pad. "Something, perhaps, having to do with a certain Iaconian mechling about to lead a group into the desert?"

Megatron would have sputtered at the (correct) implications of thinking about Optimus but then the second part of what his loyal follower said registered and he was instantly up on his peds. "What did you say?"

"Oh, Optimus is taking a few Autobots out for their first scouting mission. He's going to be teaching them about finding energon springs and rare minerals- Lord Megatron?" While he had been speaking, Megatron had dashed out of his tent and was running the rather short distance to the library like mad. Alpha Trion nearly jumped out of his plating when he burst in, scanned the cave from top to bottom before turning to leave.

"They're meeting at the southern edge of the tribe camp!" The old Iaconian called after him and Megatron changed directions, running throughout the whole village and arriving just in time to hear his new friend say "Let's roll." Before the group of six could leave, the Decepticon Lord called out the red and blue mechling's name, coming to a slow, leisure walk as Optimus turned his way with a small smile on his faceplate. The rest of the group turned to look at him as well and Megatron did a quick once over on them with a scowl fighting to come to his face.

They were all very young and obviously inexperienced, which meant that if there was any trouble, Optimus would be the one taking care of them all with no help from the others. There was a yellow and green femme standing close to Optimus, frowning as much at the Decepticon as he was at her. A yellow mechling with a black stripe was staring at him and a big green mechling looked nervous and about to hide behind Optimus. There was another green bot, a young mech, with lots of guns he probably didn't know how to use and a first aid tool kit. There was that same black and gold mechling from yesterday, Prowl if memory served right, standing at Optimus's right shoulder as if he were a SIC officer.

''Good afternoon, Megatron. Can I help you with anything?''

Megatron turned his attention back to Optimus, eying him up and down as he noticed some strange supplies hung on his body in pouches. ''Yes, actually. I would like to go with you, if it's not a problem.''

Optimus reset his optics a few times as the others gaped at the big gray mech. ''I wouldn't mind but I'm not so sure that Ratchet will be of the same mindset. He might have let you leave the medical tent but he told you to take it easy, and trekking through the desert is most definitely not taking it easy. You just woke up yesterday from your previous stunt in the desert.''

The Decepticon Lord prayed to Primus no one saw his cheekplates getting a little hotter than before, because he knew Optimus was right. Had Hook or Scalpel been here, they would have tied him down to a medical berth and restrained him there until he was fit for flight, and he still wouldn't have been allowed to go out into the desert any time soon. Not to mention that Strika and Soundwave would have joined forces and made him rest another groon at the very least. He was actually surprised Shockwave hadn't tried to stop him yet, but then again, he had just run out on him before he could react. That, and he might feel that he no longer has the right to scold Megatron about anything, since he never returned. Megatron understood why he didn't come back, and he didn't blame him since he probably would have done the very same thing if he were in his place and actually had that option, and if there was anything to be forgiven, he would have done so by now, but Shockwave didn't seem all that eager to forgive himself. Even after all these years, he felt guilty that he had not returned and no matter how many times Megatron tries to reassure him otherwise, Shockwave will not get rid of that guilt until he comes back to Kaon. And that won't happen until they find a way to transport Alpha Trion from New Iacon to Kaon quickly, because Shockwave won't leave without Blurr, who won't leave without Optimus and the red and blue mechling refuses to leave without his mentor.

''What happened that day was an unexpected and unlucky accident. The reports said there were no storms, yet one had occurred while I was in the desert and it knocked me out of the sky. Had my landing been even a little less painful, I would have been able to go back to my city by nightfall. However, my turbo thrusters were practically fried and half of my torso was smashed, so I couldn't do anything.''

The yellow and black mechling leaned over to his bigger friend and said in a stage whisper behind a raised hand, obviously thinking that Megatron couldn't hear him. ''This bot is obviously fragged up in the processor! Maybe Boss Bot shouldn't have brought him back.''

The bigger, green mech looked scandalized. ''Bumblebee! How can you say that?''

The one known as Bumblebee gave his friend an exasperated glance. ''Oh, come on now! The guy's obviously delusional! He could be a danger to us all!''

''And yet he has yet to attack us.'' Prowl needlessly pointed out, servos crossed over his chest plates. Due to his visor, Megatron wasn't sure if he were arching an optic ridge, but since he has seen Soundwave doing it often enough, he could hazard a guess.

''Maybe he's just waiting for the right opportunity, huh? Did you ever think of that?'' The minibot just wasn't letting it go and Optimus's voice snapped them out of their little discussion quite easily.

''Keep talking like that, and I'm sure he will be waiting for the right opportunity, Bumblebee.'' The two younger bots looked at him with confusion and the red, blue and silver mechling pointed at Megatron's annoyed expression. ''I think he can hear you.''

The look of horror on their faces was more than enough to satisfy the bigger bot so he turned back to Optimus, ready to continue their debate on whether or not he should go with them on this expedition thing in the desert. ''I might not be at my best, but I know that I can take this trip without problems.''

''What if you further aggravate your injuries? Do you know what Ratchet will do to both our afts? I really don't want to face him when he gets ticked off, thank you. Besides, it's not good for you.''

''I'll be fine. And it's not like I have an appointment with him today so that he would notice if I were gone.''

Optimus looked at him in such a way that Megatron felt like he might have just said something exceptionally stupid. ''Megatron, your absence might go unnoticed in your city, where there are other flightframes, but here, where there are only gossiping Autobots, if you, their latest gossip material, is missing, everyone will gossip about _that_ and that will get to Ratchet. And then we're both goners, you do realize that, right?''

''Right, forgot all about being surrounded by civilians.'' Megatron muttered to himself, rubbing at his nasal ridge. He sighed and looked at his companion. ''That, however, isn't enough to discourage me from going with you. You're going into the desert with a bunch of kids. What if you get in some sort of trouble? I don't know if you have them here, but we have a lot of Insecticons near Kaon and they are quite aggressive. What if you run into one of them? Or if you stumble upon a scraplet nest? Then what?''

''Hey! Just because we're young doesn't mean we're useless!'' Bumblebee yelled, servos clenched.

Megatron shot him a look. ''As far as I am concerned, you are less than useless.''

''And just who are you to judge that?'' The only femme in the group asked through grit denta. ''Some general? A ninja bot? A warrior?''

The gray mech smirked at her in a rather snide manner. ''Why, yes I am. Not a ninja bot, but everything else you just mention, yes, I am. I am the supreme commander of the warframe army, known as the Decepticons, and we are all warriors. We know how to fight before we know how to read or really talk, so I guess I would be a good enough judge in something like this, don't you agree?''

''Why you smug little-''

''Now, now, Elita.'' Optimus said as he stepped in between them. He placed one servo on Megatron's chestplate and the other one on Elita's shoulder, trying to separate them and stop the fight from further escalating. ''There's no need for such behavior.''

''We don't need him with us, Optimus.'' She hissed at him but the mechling wasn't deterred by her tone. ''We can look after ourselves just fine.''

''Yeah, but something tells me he's gonna come after us either way, so I guess it's better if he does come with us. I really don't need the repeat of dragging him back from the desert all the way back to New Iacon.''

''Then don't.'' The yellow femme and mechling said at the same time, keeping an optic on the now sneering warframe. He really didn't like them. ''Just leave him to offline, if he's that stupid.'' Elita finished and Bumblebee nodded. Optimus's face darkened at their words.

''Maybe you should stay here. I will not take bots who think like that with me on an expedition that depends on teamwork in order for us to survive.''

They gaped after the now clearly ticked off mechling as he once again checked their supplies before gesturing for everyone to fall in line behind him, heading out towards the desert, the wind picking up particles of rusted sand and wiping it around him, his poncho playing in its currents. Megatron's surprise must have shown on his face because the older green mech stepped up beside him, giving him a small pouch as they began to follow.

''He can turn quite cold when he hears something he doesn't like.'' He explained, not really looking at Megatron. Not that the gray mech would have noticed, so busy was he with staring at Optimus's back. And aft. The poncho was flying in all directions, often giving him a wonderful view at the blue aft. And it was such a fine aft, too, so his staring was partially excused. ''He's not spoiled, or something. He just disapproves of such views on life, any form of life, like the ones Elita and Bumblebee have just shown. I'm ashamed to say that most of the tribe has such views fundamentally, since we consider ourselves simple, replaceable cogs in a bigger machine. Optimus hates it, so he sticks out. It's one of the reasons he and Sentinel clash so often. Sentinel really only cares about himself and his reputation, while Optimus would give life and limb for any one of the tribe members, despite how they treat him. So he is often viewed as a rebel and Sentinel has decided that he likes that. He wants to ''tame'' Optimus and have him as a mate, but, as you've probably witnessed by now - there's no way you haven't, really - Optimus would rather kick him than kiss him.''

''Yeah, I saw what happened yesterday.''

''Oh, that's only the tip of the iceberg!'' His conversation partner laughed loudly and Megatron wondered if Optimus will be angry that they're talking about him behind his back ... quite literally, at that. But it's not as if they were saying anything bad. It wasn't even gossip! ''Some of their arguments get so bad that Optimus runs out into the desert and doesn't come back for three days! On the fourth day, if he doesn't get back by noon, then search parties are getting prepared to go out and look for him, although he always comes back before that. He seems to like the solitude the desert can give him at times and he treasures those individual trips. However, there are trips like these; trips meant to train the new generation of scouts and trackers. They last one day and spending the night in the desert. In the morning, we set off back for New Iacon and get back by mid afternoon.''

''But why doesn't someone else lead these trips?''

''Because they would get lost without a doubt.''

''What do you mean?'' Megatron asked as he observed the way Prowl had so easily sidled up to Optimus and was now promptly distracting him from his righteous anger.

''We don't know how to explain it, and neither do Alpha Trion or Optimus himself, but Optimus seems to have a super navigation system or something like that. He could be thrown on the other side of the planet and he would be able to find his way back here, or anywhere else, in record time. Many speculate that it's something he got by traveling so much, but Alpha Trion doesn't have that. He can read maps, though, so it's almost as good. hen there is Wheeljack, who says that the reason Optimus has it while his mentor doesn't has more to do with Optimus traveling at such a young age while Alpha Trion had already been fully formed, frame and processor wise both. I may be a field medic, but I really don't understand some of the things he and Perceptor say sometimes.'' He hit a fist onto the open palm of his servo, as if he had just remembered something. ''That's right! I haven't introduced myself yet! I know your name is Megatron, but you don't know us at all! Well, I am Hound, a field medic and I often follow Optimus on trips like this. I'm sure you've already acquainted yourself to Elita and Bumblebee, the two yellow loudmouths, and the somewhat shy, big green guy is Bulkhead. Don't let his slightly stupid behavior fool you; he's an architecture genius. And the bot upfront, next to Optimus, is his best friend and confidant, Prowl. He's a cyber ninja and the only other bot who Optimus regularly takes with him on these trips.''

''Yeah, I've met him already. Well, not really met, since we've never really introduced ourselves.''

''Don't mind him if he seems standoffish. He lost his sire not so long ago and now very rarely talks with anyone but Optimus and one other friend of his, Jazz. He's a cyber ninja, too, but not nearly as skilled as Prowl since Prowl has mastered the Processor Over Matter-'' Megatron only half listened to Hound as they left the village of the Autobot tribe, wondering what he should expect of this little trip.

Well'he's sure that it will be interesting, at the very least.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover**

 **Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.**

 **A/N: _It's been a while. I know I kept you waiting, but I am gere now. ( Britney Spears - Break the Ice)_ Right! Sorry I neglected this story for so long, but don't worry. I didn't forget about it! Sorry it slowed down so much, but I got myself entangled with three other stories and then there are the TFA drabbles I still need to write ... So, I just hope you can be patient. Thank you for reading so far and I hope you like the new chapter.**

They walked for three joors without stop, Optimus not accepting any whining from anyone. If they got too annoying, he would tell them that they hadn't been forced to come and that it was their choice to train as future scouts or trackers, which effectively shut Bumblebee and Elita One up. The femme might have been on more of these trips than the yellow mechling but she was still not used to them. Prowl was doing good in going after Optimus but Hound, despite how many times he had followed the mechling into the desert, still struggled every now and then.

Megatron, on the other hand, was walking almost as steadily as Optimus. He realized that it had more to do with their peds design than anything else, although the many years of training to be a fighter might have been a factor just as much. And while Megatron lacked Optimus's grace in moving through the rusted sand, he could keep up with him the best out of the group. With his wide downside of his peds (when his thrusters weren't exposed), he put less pressure on the sand unlike the Autobots, who mostly had small peds and as thus put more pressure on the sand and sunk in more. It tired them out to constantly pull out their stabilizing servos from just below their knee joints just so they could make a single step. Prowl had a bigger surface on his peds as well, but they were longer than they were wide, so he had to rely more on his training as a cyber ninja in order not to sink more than a few centimeters into the sand.

Optimus's peds had rubber from his tires at the bottom and a rather wide surface, so he put the least pressure on the sand, what with the rubber giving him somewhat of a bounce to his steps. Not only that, but he was obviously very used to such treks trough the desert that this was nothing more than a leisurely walk for him. Megatron couldn't help but admire the way he moved, his poncho flying around him and making him look otherworldly. However, he really didn't get much time to do that as he had to focus on not falling flat on his face and making a fool of himself in front of Optimus and the little brats that were following him into the desert.

When they were finally deep enough into the desert, Optimus motioned for them to stop and rest while he observed the landscape. The rest all flopped down on the ground and sighed in relief at the torture finally stopping, even if only for a short while. Megatron observed as more and more tension left Optimus's proud shoulders as he observed their surroundings and he realized this is where Optimus felt the most comfortable; in the open road (although there was no real road, just sand everywhere, but you get the point), with Cybertron's beautiful sky up above and Haden's warm light on his plating, the occasional breeze cooling him off and, most of all, being far, far away from those narrow minded Autobots.

No wonder Optimus often sneaks away from the tribe. Just three joors away from them and Megatron felt refreshed, felt more like himself than while he was around all those little mechs and femmes. He had been so stiff since the moment Ratchet walked in, not even realizing it, and the more he spent time with them, the worse the tension in his joints got. He had been here only two days while awake. He couldn't imagine living like that for orns, vorns even less.

He doesn't know how such a free-willed mechling like Optimus could manage it. 'Maybe I can take him with me when I leave?' He thought, only to almost smack himself with his servo. 'Idiot! What are you thinking, Megatron!? He's not a warframe. He'll never fit in in Kaon!' Here his thoughts hesitated. 'But he doesn't fit in here, either. Where does he belong?' He thought back to his suspicion of just who could get that one missing resource for saving Cybertron and then he remembered Optimus telling him about the dreams he has from time to time. 'Are they connected? Is it really Optimus who could get that one resource?'

"Alright, this is as good a spot as any. There's an underground cave not far from here, so we won't have to search for shelter for the night. And there's bound to be an underground energon spring around here somewhere, as well, since those things always go together." Optimus said, snapping everyone's attention to the red and blue bot. "Now, I want us all to make two groups. Hound, you'll lead and supervise Bumblebee and Bulkhead. I'll take Prowl, Elita and Megatron. You are to return here," he took out a stretching flagpole and put it in the ground. "In a joor. I've already told you how to search for energon, crystals and minerals and how to avoid possible Insecticon hives, so just stick to that and to Hound or me and everything will be fine. The flag pole emits a signal you should be able to pick up on your comm units. We'll head North and you head West. The maximum parameter you are allowed to have is 50 mechanokilometers, so don't go exploring beyond that. We seriously don't need you all getting lost."

Not long after that, they went their own separate ways, keeping their optics peeled for traces of energon and any other resources. It didn't take long for Optimus to find metaloplants and he started digging near their roots. He took out an empty flask for energon and filled it up, then cut off a few leaves from the plant and covered the root and the small puddle of energon he had found. "This is how you're to act if you find a metaloplant. There's bound to be fuel or energon there, but don't drain everything away. And don't take the whole damn plant. Just leaves or, if it has a flower, a few petals."

And so Elita and Prowl got to work while Megatron scouted ahead. He found a baby scroponok and smiled, taking the baby to Optimus. Those blue optics lit up when he was handed the small creature, wonder in his optics as it crawled all over his servo and up to his shoulder to nestle into the collar of his poncho and promptly fall asleep. Elita was snickering when she saw them and Prowl looked just as fascinated by the little life as Optimus had been.

"I think he likes you, Optimus," the femme singsonged and Optimus blushed, looking anywhere but at the now confused Decepticon Lord. The yellow bot only giggled and sidled up to her friend, talking quietly into his audio so only he could hear. That blue face was suddenly as red as his plating and he turned to look at the yellow and green femme. "Elita!" But Elita One just walked off, very much satisfied with herself. Optimus huffed and, still red in the face, stalked off in the opposite direction. Megatron looked to Prowl but the cyber ninja just shrugged so Megatron returned the gesture and they went back to their tasks at servo.

When the joor passed, Optimus lead them back to the flag pole, all of their subspaces considerably fuller than they had been when they had set off on this trek. Megatron had found it rather fun, following Optimus's instructions and finding so much in the process of searching for their resources. Elita seemed pleased with how much she had found and Prowl was still marveling at the creature sleeping in the collar of Optimus's poncho and the red and blue bot didn't mind him observing his new little companion. They waited patiently for about fifteen breems before they realized no one was coming and Elita began to worry. Prowl left the little creature alone and instead focused on trying to spot the other half of their group but there was no such luck. After a full joor passed, Optimus decided they had waited enough.

''I swear to Primus, one of these megacycles ...'' The mechling muttered under his breath as he stomped off in the direction that their wayward youngsters had went off in with their field medic. It wasn't often that Optimus lost anyone, but it had happened once or twice. He had always found them within two joors, so he was confident that he will be able to find them as long as there wasn't a storm tonight or if they hadn't managed to fall into any sand traps. It had happened with one mech and he had been found too late. The tribe had barely managed to get Optimus to agree to once again take their youngsters on such expeditions after that, as Optimus refused to be responsible for the loss of any more life.

They searched for the customary two joors and Optimus cursed their luck when he noticed that not only had they indeed fallen into a sand trap but that the rest of them won't have any choice but to go down the cavern since a storm was coming on the horizon. Megatron and the others noticed it as well and more curses filled the air as tension rose. Optimus looked up to his companions and motioned for the hole where the footsteps, still undisturbed due to the unnatural calm before the storm, had lead them. ''We will have to go down there and hope there will be another exit, because we will die otherwise.''

''What?! But you always said to never go anywhere near sand traps!'' Elita complained just as the wind started picking up and Optimus frowned some more.

''We don't really have a choice here! If we don't we will die for sure! Sand traps are dangerous because they usually lead to endless tunnels just below the surface. If we go there and find a secure place with a stable ceiling, we can spend the night there, or we can search for Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Hound. Either way, this is currently our only safe heaven from the storm.''

''I agree with Optimus. We have a chance of survival in the cravens but not in the storm. I was a right miracle both Shockwave and Megatron survived those storms.'' Prowl said with a nod as he got ready to go down but Optimus stopped him with a shake of his head.

''It wasn't exactly a miracle. The storms during the day are milder than those that strike at night. And never rush into anything. Turn on your lights and then we'll go in. I'll go first, as I always have my grappler to get me out if it really is too dangerous. Be on the lookout for any other possible shelters, because if we really can't use this sand trap, then we are doomed.'' With that, Optimus jumped carefully into the hole, his poncho wrapped tight around him. The other three started looking around and Megatron called them over when he found a rock. With their help, they moved it aside a little and saw that they could crawl under there, as there was a little, shallow cavern under it. It wasn't much, but it will save their lives if the sand trap is unstable.

Then they heard Optimus's voice calling out to them and they rushed over to see Optimus chinning a light up at them. ''It's safe. Get in!'' The sky had darkened already and the two Autobots jumped in as soon as Optimus moved out of the way. Megatron looked around and found a smaller rock and took it with him. As he jumped in, he held the rock over his head and let it close the hole above them so that the sand doesn't come in with the storm. However, he got one of his digits crushed in the process and was now cursing up a storm as the winds began howling over their heads.

Optimus was by his side in seconds, inspecting the broken digits. He quickly tore up pieces of his poncho and wrapped the broken digits securely against his working ones, before taking out a small, mostly straight crystal and tying another poncho bandage around it so that it prevents Megatron to move his fingers much. ''There, that way sand won't get into the wound and you won't make more damage by wriggling it. We will have Hound look at it before we head back, where Ratchet really will have both you and my hide for letting you go on this expedition in the first place.''

"I told you I was fine!" The Decepticon couldn't help but growl and Elita and Prowl tensed at the sound. Optimus, however, wasn't fazed. He simply lifted an optic ridge. The gray mech decided that it wasn't worth it getting into a fight with Optimus so he just grumbled a little to himself, ignoring the heat that wished to crawl onto his faceplates. The red and blue mechling nodded to himself before looking around the carven they were using as shelter.

"It's pretty stable, so there's no worry of the ceiling coming down on us and it's spacious enough so we can all fit. I think the ceiling is this hight for the most part, so even Megatron can walk around comfortably. I suggest we get some light and start searching for the others. I think I saw where they could have fal-"

"Wait, you can't seriously mean that we'll start a fire or something? That's dangerous underground!" Elita screeched and Optimus and Prowl made shushing noises.

"And so is wandering in the dark!" Prowl hissed at her, putting a hand over her intake to show his point in not talking.

"We need to stay quiet and undetected. One of the reasons that sand traps are dangerous is because Insecticons sometimes hide in them and I'd rather not run into them." Optimus explained in a whisper and Elita went rigid in Prowl's hold. Seeing that she'll stay quiet, the ninja bot let go of her before stepping away from the femme and over to Optimus's side. "Anyway, as I was saying, there is a tunnel with a caved in floor where I think our companions have fallen. We'll go after them using my grapplers and Prowl's levitation gear. Megatron, can you at least slow down your fall by activating your thrusters?"

The Decepticon did a scan of his systems before shaking his head. "I'm afraid not quite yet. The damage was extensive and it's going to take some time before I can fly."

"Then Elita and I will have to get you down before going down ourselves. But that means I'll have to go down first, to see how much of the grappler's rope we'll have to use." The mechling mused and Prowl started working on the fire. Optimus absentmindedly told him to wrap some of his poncho around the enflamed metal so that the fire isn't directly exposed but would still provide them light.

"Or I could just climb down?" The lord suggested but it was turned down immediately.

"I don't need risking you breaking your spinal strut, too. I'm in enough trouble with Ratchet as it is."

"Then what will we do?" The only femme asked and silence descended on them.

"I think Optimus's plan is actually our best option. I'll hover near him as you two get him down. Then you guys can easily slide down. The only problem is time, since Elita can't copy someone else's personal mod for long. How long would you be able to hold it?" The black and gold bot asked of the yellow and green femme who thought about it before saying about two to three breems. "I think we can get him low enough that jumping down the rest of the way won't be dangerous."

"I'll lower him down the rest of the way." Optimus said confidently and stood up. He took one of the glow sticks Prowl had made and lead the way to the hole in the floor he was talking about. "We'll make marks on the way so we know which way to return to the surface with. I hope you're ready for a sleepless night, because we're not stopping until we find Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Hound. Don't stray off, no matter what you see. We keep together."

It didn't take them long to get to the hole and to judge it not too deep for Optimus's grapplers to reach the bottom. It wasn't easy to get Megatron down, especially once Elita slipped and landed on Megatron, making Optimus bear her added weight, too. Surprisingly, and extremely luckily, neither did Optimus let go nor did the cord of his grapplers snap. Both Elita-1 and Megatron were safely lowered to the ground some 300 mechanometers down. Prowl went up to hover over the tired Optimus as the mechling made his way down and then supported his weight when the red and blue bot wobbled on his peds. Optimus shrugged him off after about a dozen steps but Prowl still walked closely to his friend and leader of the expedition.

Optimus rested against the wall for a moment or two longer before straightening up and looking around. He motioned for them to bring their lights closer to the ground and they found three pairs of pedsteps, all definitely Autobot, much to their relief. The flamed bot looked down the passage their companions took before reaching into his subspace and drawing an energon ax. He made a big slash across the wall he had been resting on before turning to his companions.

"Stick together and make occasional markings, so we don't get lost." He instructed. "Don't take out the energon we just found if you get hungry and don't refuel often. We'll make regular stops for that. If you get tired, you tell me so we can rest and no one stays behind. You think you saw something moving from the corner of your optic _don't_ hesitate to tell me. Like I said before, Insecticons sometimes use sand traps like this as well. Is all of this clear?" Once he got three nods, Optimus nodded back at them before once again looking ahead, shoulders drawn back determinately. "Then let's go find Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Hound and get the pit out of here."

And with that, they set off into the labyrinth of underground tunnels.


End file.
